Assemblymember Mike Feuer

After Gov. Schwarzenegger proposed more than $1.1 billion in cuts to public transit funding in the state budget in January, CALPIRG launched a campaign to restore funds this year and increase our investment in public transit in future years.
Here, Asm. Mike Feuer from Los Angeles explains his concerns with cuts to public transit and his vision for future transportation funding.

Asm. Feuer is the Chair of the Budget Subcommittee on Transportation, where key decisions will be made about how much the state will invest in public transit.

You were just elected into the Legislature, and already you’ve become one of the leading voices to improve and expand public transit in the state. Why is this issue important to you?

From my experience in local government representing one of the most congested areas of the country I have learned that improving and expanding public transit is fundamental to improving air quality and combating global warming; good for our economy in that it is essential to move our goods and services quickly; and important for our quality of life.
The more time we spend on our congested roads and highways the less time we have to spend with our families. I believe that it is fundamental to our futures.

You are from Los Angeles, a city known for its car culture. What do you say to the critics who suggest that Angelenos will never get out of their cars?

I was on the Los Angeles City Council six years ago. At that point people were frustrated with traffic. Since then the level of frustration has increased exponentially.

For example the Orange Line in the San Fernando Valley has more than doubled the expected level of ridership. The Blue Line has the most riders of any other light rail system in the United States.

We need to seize this moment. We need to offer alternatives to cars that are timely and efficient. It is frustrating that it takes seven to ten years from decision to implementation. We can’t wait that long.

Why must public transit be a large part of the solution to the gridlock in many of California’s urban areas?

All studies demonstrate that if we continue to only build freeways and roads we are only postponing the inevitable. As soon as those roads are completed they are filled with more cars.

It is extremely important that we don’t rely on the old paradigm of transportation planning and funding.

CALPIRG is currently lobbying your peers to prevent $1.1 billion in state budget cuts to public transit. How would those cuts affect public transit service throughout the state?

The budget subcommittee that I chair has held hearings on this topic. The response from Sacramento is devastating. Los Angeles tells us that they will have a 10 percent loss in their operating budget which will lead to fare increases. The magnitude of the governor’s cuts is untenable.
We are faced with a challenging budget year but balancing the budget principally on cutting funding to public transit is the wrong answer.

In what ways do you hope to improve California’s transportation policies as a member of the State Assembly?

I am hopeful we can create a reliable and expanding public transit budget in California. Currently public transit agencies depend on an uncertain and unstable source of revenue. This is very difficult. Reliability and an increase of revenue are both essential to the future of public transit.